The Macro-Economic Influences on a New Religious Group in Japan

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the long-term relationships between the national economy and the membership of the New Religious group Tenrikyo in the relatively free religious supply environment in Japan. Tenrikyo has existed since the mid-nineteenth century, although it has not dominated the religious market; it has supplied non-religious services such as education, publishing and medical and social care services, as well as religious services. This has involved it in competition with both religious and secular organisations. We construct a model of the associations between religious and secular changes through competition and conduct a regression analysis using long-term data of denominational membership and the macro-economic indicators. We find that the GDP growth rate and stable economic period have a positive association with denominational membership. On the other hand, welfare benefits, the share price index and income equality are associated negatively with that membership. These empirical results confirm complementary as well as substitutive roles between a New Religious group and secular organisations in contemporary society.